Omicron COVID-19 variant not yet detected in Arizona at same rate nationally
Dec 21, 2021, 12:11 PM
(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
PHOENIX — Despite a report from national health officials Monday that said more than 7 out of 10 COVID-19 cases last week were omicron, the variant has been detected in Arizona at a much lower rate.
The Arizona Department of Health Services said Tuesday that only 30 cases — 1.6% of samples sequenced — of omicron have been confirmed in the state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers released Monday showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week, with 73% of new infections being the variant.
ADHS added that it’s not clear how widespread the variant could be in the state. Regardless, health officials say vaccinations, including booster shots for those eligible, offer significant protection against serious illness and death.
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“Any hospital will tell you that the vast majority of those in intensive care and dying from COVID-19 are not vaccinated,” Dr. Richard Carmona, the state’s pandemic czar, said in a press release.
UArizona announced Tuesday its first seven omicron cases.
The variant was first detected in Arizona on Dec. 8 in an individual in Yavapai County.
Omicron has spread rapidly in many places since its early December rise, with more than 650,000 infections occurring in the U.S. in the past week.
It is responsible for an estimated 90% or more of new infections in the New York area, the Southeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.
Since the end of June, the delta variant had been the main version causing U.S. infections. As recently as the end of November, more than 99.5% of coronaviruses were delta, according to CDC data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
